Elevator for grain



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

mumodl.

M; GARLAND.

ELEVATOR FOR GRAIN, WATER, &c.

Patented Nov. 6, 1888.

,ATTEs 11/ .[u'fl 3 SheetsSheet 2.

(No Model.)

M. GARLAND.

v ELEVATOR FOR GRAIN, WATER, &c. No. 892,421. Patented Nov. 6, 1888.

FIG. 5. Fl6.6,

' I VEN CR. B G m/0 0! (No Model.)

M. GARLAND. I ELEVATOR FOR GRAIN, WATER, 6w.

Patented Nov. 6, 1888.

II I N. PETERS. Hwloulhvgn'bhn Wishhlhm, D, C-

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

MICHAEL GARLAND, or BAY CITY, MICHIGAN.

ELEVATOR FOR G RAiN, WATER, 800.

$PIEICIPICAI'ION forming part of Letters Patent No. 392,421, dated November 6, 1888.

Application filed Ju11c22, 1887. Serial No. 242,119. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MICHAEL GARLAND, of Bay City, in the county of Bay and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Elevators for Grain, Water, 8m; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being to the accompanying drawings, making part of this application.

My invention relates to that species of elevator contrivances in which there is embraced some sort of endless cable or rope, some sort of wheels over which the rope or cable travels, and receptacles secured to the rope that are accommodated in peripheral recesses or cutouts in the rope-wheel; and my said invention consists in certain novel devices and combinations of devices, which will be hereinafter fully described as to structure, function, and efl'ect, and which will be specifically pointed out, and defined in the claims of this specifica tion.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my improvements relate to fully understand and use the same, I will now proceed to more fully explain the several features of my invention, referring by letter to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and in which I have shown the several parts of my invention carried out in those forms in which I have so far successfully used them, and which are about the best forms 110 known to me.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of part of -an elevator made according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a bottom View of the bucket and coupler that occupies the lowermost position at the right-hand side of Fig. 1'. Fig. 3 is a similar view of the lowest bucket seen at the left-hand side, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a face or mouth view of one of the other buckets. Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation of the wheel, the plane of section being indicated bythe dotted line :0 no at Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, but showing a modification that will be presently explained. Figs. 7 and- S are respectively a side view and a central cross-section of a wheel embodying still another modificationof the cushion device, (to be presently described) the wheel being provided at Fig. 7 with simply a. sprocketed cable for the purposes merely of transmitting power and motion. I

Wherever in the several figures the same parts are seen they will be found designated by the same letters of reference.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive, a is a rope-wheel of novel construction, the periphery of which is formed with alternately-arranged, bifurcated, or fork-like teeth a and cut-outs or recesses f, for purposes to be presently explained. A pair of such wheels may be mounted suitably on shafts or axles 1), arranged after the fashion common to elevator contrivances, and over the peripheries of said wheels is arranged the endless rope or cable 6, that carries the series of buckets or receptacles shown at B, B, and G,which operare to carry the material to be lifted or conveyed. These buckets are arranged equidistant on the cable 6, to which they are attached, and at such distance apart that as the endless rope travels in contact with the peripheries of the wheels a said buckets will be accommodated by or within the recesses f, while those portions of the rope or cable 6 that lie between the buckets will be received in or accommodated by the groove-like peripheral seats or crotches of the teeth a of the wheel, all as clearly shown in the drawings.

As will be observed, (see particularly Figs. 5 and 6,) each of the tooth-like devices a is composed of two radially-projecting framelike parts between which the rope or cable 6 (in passing onto and off from the wheel) is guided, after the fashion in which the flaring flanges of the ordinary ropewheel operate upon the rope to insure the proper seating of the latter in the wheels peripheral groove. For some uses of the apparatus shown this peculiar structure of the teeth a so as to provide the openings a as shown, is very important; but when designed, for handling certain material these teeth-like portions a may be made without any openings such as seen at a Under all circumstances, however, the roots of the teeth (or the crotch formed at the juncture of the flaring sides of each tooth) should present a groove about semicircular in shape in cross-section, as shown, and of a size such :00

, be used to move liquids.

that the rope or cable used in connection with the wheel will fit snuglyinto said groove, substantially as shown.

In an elevator designed to handle or carry such stuff as sawdust, clay, &c.-that is liable in passing out of the buckets (as the latter are inverted) to accumulate in the groove-like rope-seats of the wheelitis most important to embrace in the contrivance shown that feature of my invention which consists in the toothopenings a, through which all material that may fall in between the jaws or parts of the teeth a will readily pass off laterally of the wheel, thus avoiding wholly any possibility of getting into the rope-groove and preventing the perfect seating of the latter. To render more efficient this peculiarity of construction of the wheel, I make some or all of the edges of the panel like opening c of each toothframe a flaring, (see Figs. 1 and 5,) so that said discharge-opening is ofincreasing capacity from the inner toward the outer face of each part a". (See Fig. 6.) It will be seen that under this peculiarity of structure any material that may fall in between the flared side frames of one of the teeth (6 will escape laterally mormtfreely than if the orifice through which it has to pass had its sides, so to speak, parallel.

The buckets shown are all about hemispherical in configuration; but they may, of course, be ofa somewhat differentshape. They must, however, be mounted on the rope c in such manner that the latter shall pass about centrally through them, as shown. \Vhcn these buckets are made as seen at B, each is composed of two parts, each of which is approximately the shape of onequarter of a hollow globe, the said two parts having their central portions, B, (see Fig. 4,) bolted together so as to embrace the rope a by transverselyarranged bolts 1, so as to jointly constitute a receptacle practically hemispherical in shape. In this form of the buckets, however, the connected parts are united only closely enough to serve the purpose of carrying solid substances or materials-such as grain, sawdust, &c. For elevating liquids or a mixin re of solid and liquid matters, I make these buckets after the fashion seen at 13, Figs. 1 and 3, in which each of the two parts constitutes (by virtue of the flat sides I5", see Fig. 3) a water-tight compartment, the two united compartments forming the double-compartment hemispherical bucket. This peculiarity of construction of the buckets, each comprising two water-tight compartments, I consider an important feature of my invention, though only specially useful when the elevator is to It will be understood, of course, that the practical necessity for making the buckets (whether of the form seen at 13 or that seen at B) in two parts,bolted together in a plane about coincident with the center or axial line of the cable 0 arises from the fact that the cable 6 has to pass centrally through the bottom of the bucket and has to be securely fastened thereto.

The stern-like or central devices, 11, of the parts of each bucket have semi-cylindrical grooves in their adjacent surfaces, and when bolted together, as shown, embrace and grip the cable 0 securely enough to prevent any displacement of the buckets and rope relatively,when the parts ll of the former come into working contact with the teeth of the combined rope and sprocket wheel a, in the manner shown at Fig. l and well understood by those skilled in the art.

As will be easily understood by reference to Fig. 1, the ends of the united parts Bof each bucket are made convex, (or are otherwise shaped,) so as to fit the workingsurfaces of the (so to speak) sprockets e of the wheel,and so that in any position in which the bucketed rope may be run on the wheels these end portions of B will match to and properly engage with the driving (or driven) surfaces of the wheel. Preferably the ends of the longitudinal grooves in the clamp-like parts of the buckets are made slightly flaring, so as to avoid any possibility of the rope or cable being unduly worn (or cut) by the bending of the cable between the buckets to conform to the curvature of the wheel over which the rope may be run, and to insure the grip of the grooved parts of the bucket on the rope (to which they are clamped) the semi-cylindrical grooves of the clamping devices maybe lined with some suitable material in which the strands of the cable will become embedded.

\Vhere the contrivance may be designed to run or work at a comparatively high rate of speed and with either buckets or only simple sprockets on the cable, I deem it important to provide means to insure a reliable engagement between the cable 0 (especially where it may be of wire) and the peripheral grooves of the metallic wheel a. To this important end and object I make the wheel with grooved seats or cushions a, (see Fig. 5,) securely held in place by some suitable means. These elastic seatpieces a may be composed of a suitable wood or be made of paper, rubber compound, or other material, and they may be securelyheld in place in various ways.

At Fig. 5 I have shown the wheel made with all the tooth-frames a" on one side removable,

and the cushionstrips a clamped and hold fast between these removable parts and the opposite integral portions of the teeth by means of securing bolts and nuts a, while at the upper portion of Fig. 6 I have shown a construction of wheel in which the elastic seat-pieces c" are simply inserted in deep peripheral recesses in the wheel-casting, and are there sccured by bol ts (U, which pass through said pieces a and one side of the wheel-rim, the heads (and washers) of the bolts being accommodated in cavities in the opposite side of the rim, all as clearly illustrated. At the lower part of Fig. 6 is shown still another form, in

form of cushioned wheel, in which the wheel is made in halves, bolted together, as shown, the

bolts m (see Fig. 8) serving the double purpose to fasten together the two parts of the wheel and to securely clamp between said .parts the leather .or rubber cushions 0, which it will be seen are so formed and arranged asto provide not only semi-cylindrical peripheral seats for the cable to run in but seats or bearing-surfaces at their slightly projecting ends 0", (see Fig. 7,) against which come or upon which are a seated the bearing or working surfaces of the sp rocket-like de'vieessuch as seen for instan oe' at 'r, at Fig. 7, (where a simple sprocketed cable is shown)in such manner that in the runing of the contrivance all noise and clatter will be avoided and at the same time undue wear prevented between the working-faces of the teeth-like projections or sprockets of the wheel and those of the sprocket-like devices with which the cable is provided. This divided wheel has the hubs of its parts respect ively secured to the shaft, preferably by two setscrews, as seen at t.

In the formation of the bucket shown at C (see lower right-hand bucket of Fig. 1 and also the bottom view at Fig. 2) there is a perforated bottom, m", and central stem portion, a, through which passes one end portion of the cable 0, ancLa removable or false bottom piece, 0, which also has a perforated stem portion, .9, through which passes the other end portion of the cable, and when this false bottom or faceplate G is secured by means of bolts 0 to the bottom proper of the cast bucket C the union of said part 0 with the bottom of the bucket 0 effects a splicing or couplingof the adjacent ends'o'f the cable or rope e. As indicated at Fig. 2, the adjacent surfaces of the bucket-bottom and the clamping-disk C are formed with radially-arranged semi-cylindrical grooves, which match together and within which grooves are securely clamped and held the spread-out strands c of the end portions of the cable e.

It will be seen that by making the bottom m" of the bucket O to constitute one-half or portion of the splicing device and combining therewith, as shown, the other portion, 0 I make the bottom of the cast-bucket perform the double function of bucket part and splicing-device part. I consider the novel combination or arrangement thus effected, by which the bucket-bottom m together with its supplemental plate 0 becomes also a splice device or coupler, as constituting an important feature of my present invention.

It will be understood, of course, that many variations of form and changes in the details of construction of my improved contrivance may be made without departing from the principle of construction and mode of operation peculiar thereto, and hence without departing from the gist of my invention. It will also be seen that while I have shown all the featuresof my alleged improvement combined in a single contrivance or apparatus said features may be separately employed in either an elevator contrivance or in a mere powerand motion transmitting contrivance with all the advantages due separately to each one of the several parts of my invention. I therefore wish it to be understood that in practicing my invention any one or more of the several described features of the improvement may be separately employed, as, according to circumstances, it may be desirable to use either all or only a part of my alleged invention in a single machine or contrivance.

Having now so fully explained the construction and operation of my improved material elevator or carrier, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. Acombined rope andsprocket-wheel having its radially-proj ecting bifurcated teeth-like devices a formed withapertures (5, in substantially the manner specified, for the purpose set forth.

2. A wheel adapted to run in connection with a bucketed rope or cable and formed or provided with teeth-like devices a which have side apertures, a formed with outwardly flared or beveled edges, in substantially the manner and for the purpose described.

3. The combination, with the rope or cable 0, of a receptacle or bucket, B, made in halves and formed or provided with interiorly-arranged parts 13, adapted to embrace the rope, and means for securing said parts B to the rope, all substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4.. In a bucket-elevator designed to carry liquids, a bucket composed of two water-tight compartmentaeach formed or provided with a portion, 13*, substantially such as shown, for the purpose set forth.

5. In a bucket-elevator contrivance, the combination, with the contiguous ends of the rope or cable, of a splice device, substantially such as shown, in which one part of the said device is composed of the bottom of one of the buckets of the elevator, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

6. Aeombined rope and sprocket wheel pro vided with cushion strips or blocks 0, the ends 0" of which project beyond the working faces of the metallic teeth of said wheel and serve to cushion the working-faces of any sprocketlike devices on the rope or cable which may be run on said wheel, substantially as herein before shown and described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 10th day of June, 1887.

MICHAEL GARLAND.

In presence of- HEZEKIAII M. GILLE'IT, J our: E. SIMONSON. 

